The USD/JPY snapped seven straight days of losses and climbed over 0.20% on Thursday late during the North American session. The Yen’s recent depreciation despite falling US Treasury yields and amid the lack of a catalyst could be attributed to traders booking profits ahead of the weekend. At the time of writing, the pair trades at 143.96 after bouncing off daily lows of 142.80.
The USD/JPY suggests buyers overcame sellers, pushing the pair above the 143.00 figure and poised to curtail the Greenback’s fall against the Yen. Momentum suggests the pair could be bottoming out, as depicted by the Relative Strength Index (RSI).
Nevertheless, the RSI remains bearish, though it edges towards its 50-neutral line.
That said, buyers will need the USD/JPY to clear 144.00. A breach of the latter will expose key resistance levels, led by the Kijun-sen at 144.27 and the 20-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at 144.65. If those levels are cleared, the Senkou Span A confluence and the psychological 145.00 figure will follow.
The USD/JPY must remain below the Kijun-sen for a bearish continuation. If achieved, the first support would be 143.00, followed by the May 21 swing low of 142.80. Once hurdled, the next stop would be the previous cycle low seen at 142.35, the May 6 daily low.
The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies this week. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the Australian Dollar.
USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
USD | -0.85% | -0.98% | -0.89% | -0.78% | -0.08% | -0.26% | -0.98% | |
EUR | 0.85% | -0.16% | 0.00% | 0.12% | 0.90% | 0.65% | -0.12% | |
GBP | 0.98% | 0.16% | -0.14% | 0.29% | 1.07% | 0.82% | 0.04% | |
JPY | 0.89% | 0.00% | 0.14% | 0.12% | 1.00% | 0.84% | -0.02% | |
CAD | 0.78% | -0.12% | -0.29% | -0.12% | 0.74% | 0.52% | -0.25% | |
AUD | 0.08% | -0.90% | -1.07% | -1.00% | -0.74% | -0.25% | -1.01% | |
NZD | 0.26% | -0.65% | -0.82% | -0.84% | -0.52% | 0.25% | -0.77% | |
CHF | 0.98% | 0.12% | -0.04% | 0.02% | 0.25% | 1.01% | 0.77% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).